Today I've had the opportunity to spend roughly 10 hours on a piece of equipment and have contemplated the more recent developments in the relationship between the BLM/Forest Service/Federal Government and the citizens of San Juan County. As the title might indicate my mind has been brought to bear on the Declaration of Independence. That is the approach I will take with this post.
"But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security." Now I know what you may be thinking, " Kendall has lost his mind and has turned into some fanatic." Well, that might be so but lets look at the situation and then I'll let you decide what the writers of the Declaration would say about the events.
Before I delve into this let me first establish that I am not saying who is guilty or who is being falsely accused. Quite frankly I don't care if the men who were rounded up yesterday are guilty as charged or not. What I do care about, as will shortly be evident, is the complete disregard on the part of the Federal government and her ghestapo-like henchmen of the BLM, Forest Service, and National Park Service of meaning of 'citizen' when dealing with the people of the rural West. Please feel free to comment.
I will assume that anyone reading this is familiar with the raids that took place in the 4 corners area yesterday morning and with the sad developments of today dealing with yesterday's raids. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about then check out any of Utah's major news websites. I am not disputing the fact that what these people are ACCUSED of is a crime (although I think it is ludicrous, it is still considered a crime) but what I do dispute is the necesity of putting thousands of man hours over the course of several years into an investigation to appreahend such "HEINOUS CRIMINALS" as those who dig indian ruins. Many will argue that they are stealing America's cultural artifacts, others might argue that they are stealing 'tribal property' and to both I say BS. Who's tribe do these artifacts belong to? Last time I checked the Anasazi's have been dead and gone in their entirety for nearly a thousand years. If in fact some tribe does have ownership of these 'artifacts' then I want them to know my family is going to charge them rent not only in the future but also an insanely high back fee for storing all of their left over dishes and discarded weapons and clothing for the past 80 years. Feel free to contact me if these articles are the property of your tribe and make sure you give me an address to send the bill. As to the argument that these people are 'stealing America's heritage' I say, "atleast these people have the ambition to go dig this junk up so we can know more about these lost civilizations!"
All arguments aside the fact of the matter is that the FBI and their fellow goons raided homes and arrested people yesterday to close a several year investigation. How much money was spent on this investigation? How many Border Patrol agents could we have trained for that much money? How many DEA agents and drug dogs could we have trained for that much money? How many terrorists could we have waterboarded with that much money? In the world we live in are there not more important things for the government to be doing to protect us? In the quote from the Declaration that I already used it says that when the government stops providing for our future security it is our RIGHT to find a new guard for our future.
I found several aspects of the press conference held by the government yestarday to be quite interesting. Mr Salazar (who I think is about as worthless as worthless gets) said (quoted straight from CNN.com), "Let this case serve notice to anyone who is considering breaking these laws and trampling our nation's cultural heritage that the BLM [Bureau of Land Management], the Department of Justice and the federal government will track you down and bring you to justice," There you have it, yesterday's raids on American citizens were nothing more than terror tactics brought to you courtesy of our own government that should be protecting us from foreign and domestic dangers not from pot hunters! When a government starts allowing its people to be terrorised in order to 'prove a point' then that government is no longer functioning as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and the like set it up, but rather as Hitler and Stalin set up their respective 'governments.'
The other part of the press conference I found to be quite disturbing was the fact that all of the officials were flaunting the fact that they had the Redds again. The attitude was that of "well we were too sloppy with out case on them ten years ago so we came back at them and got them this time and regardless of what the truth is we WILL convict them." Thats not the way the legal process was designed to work but alas the government we are governed by today is not the organization that Hamilton so nobley defended in the Federalist Papers either.
Basically what I'm getting at is that yesterdays raids that resulted in 24 people being arrested and lives being broken and ruined forever was nothing more than terroristic scare tactics by a government that would rather have the citizens of this part of the world be evicted so they could turn the 4 corners into a play ground. The government that was founded to save us and provide safety to us against the tyranny, oppression and despotism of England has, over time, BECOME that very institution it was developed to deter. Once again I am not saying anyone is guilty or innocent but what I am saying is that this is a poor use of our limited funds and law enforcement resources and that if Mr. Salazar wanted to 'send a message' he did a fine job of it. Message sent AND recieved, you don't want us here and thats fine cause we don't want YOU here either! You keep taking our land and our ways of enjoying it, we know you will, but stop fighting our desire to have freedom in our own land with trumped up charges and ridiculous laws!
In closing I just want to tie the complaints back in with the Declaration of Independance. What do you think? Are James Madison and Thomas Jefferson rolling over in their graves? You bet they are!
Cara Mengobati Wasir Pada Ibu Hamil
9 years ago
7 comments:
Kendall well put.
Maybe they should make it illegal to chew gum or to whistle indoors, and then spend a bunch of money our country doesn't have to enforce it. Bring those whistling bastages down, I say.
Love it Kyle thank you so much. But, unfortunately how long is it until they are storming our homes for our guns, how about "horn hunter" Trav loves finding antlers, are the enviromentalists going to say it is part of nature and belong to the animals and come after these guys for selling their antlers, the things that we enjoy will be taken away one by one, it makes me feel powerless.
I do NOt agree with the way people were treated in the situations, I feel very badly for their children and the things they had to witness, I hope never in my life time or my childrens we will ever have to go through something like that. I too am disgusted in these men on power trips. I am not saying who is innocent or guilty either.
But really, where is some tact?
brookie
Well said. What has happened the past couple of day as devastated a whole community and, yet again, has wasted more of our tax dollars that could have gone to better things.
Kendall,
I have such conflicting thoughts about what happened. When I first heard about it I was in PHX and I thought everyone was exaggerating what really happened.
Then I realized that no one was telling enough.
I feel like these men and women were treated terribly and what happened was inexcusable. I also feel like people need to know what really happened.
The facts; all of them.
Once you start calling names people stop listening, but no one can argue with facts...
Kendall,
I have a few thoughts related to this post. First it was quite long. Just a thought. Second, ten hours on a machine might be a little too much.
Now the good stuff- As for digging up artifacts, why do it at all? It sounds completely self interested to me. You wrote: ‘As to the argument that these people are 'stealing America's heritage' I say, "at least these people have the ambition to go dig this junk up so we can know more about these lost civilizations!"’ As this is a black market endeavor, the artifacts they dig up are lost. They don’t study it and then publish papers on what they found. The artifacts go into private collects through the black market. What they did was illegal- though criminals have rights, they are criminals and their families are destroyed already.
As for government waste… On one level, the hours spent are not important. If you want to resort to founding fathers, try John Jay. At the time he was just as influential as Hamilton, if not more so. John Adams wrote to James Lloyd about Jay: “I forbore to mention one of more importance than any of the rest, indeed of almost as much weight as all the rest. I mean Mr. Jay. That gentleman had as much influence in the preparatory measures in digesting the Constitution, and obtaining its adoption, as any man in the nation. His known familiarity with Madison and Hamilton, his connection with all the members of the old Congress, have given to these writings [the 'Federalist '] more consideration than both the other writers could have given them." But I digress. Jay wrote that “The most perfect constitutions, the best governments, and the wisest laws are vain, unless well administered and well obeyed. Virtuous citizens will observe them from a sense of duty, but those of an opposite description can be restrained only by fear of disgrace and punishment. Such being the state of things, it is essential to the welfare of society, and to the protection of each member of it in the peaceable enjoyment of his rights, that offenders be punished. The end of punishment however, is not to expiate for offences, but by the terror of example to deter men from the commission of them.” (John Jay’s Charge to the Grand Juries (1790)http://www.johnjayinstitute.org/index.cfm?get=get.paper_12292006#_ednref21)
How does a government provide for our future security? Various ways- For example, by force, by good administration, but protecting us from the outside as well as from within. Domestic peace provides for the current and future peace and prosperity. The America that Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton set up was a government of laws. Don't forget the whiskey rebellion. All these people wanted to do was drink.
"Regardless of what the truth is, we will convict them." Yes that is a scary thought. But before you get all revolutionary on us consider this: Hamilton was a man who promoted law and order. This resulted from the lawless environment he grew up in. He spent his life promoting law and order through the process of the law, not revolution through unconstitutional means.
"Terrorist Tactics"- Tyranny is the acting outside of the law. Dumb government is different than a tyrannical one. If they violated the laws and the Constitution then raise a voice. Spending money is not violating the Constitution.
Good to see your brain is still running,
Nemo- aka your old roommate
Hello Kendall,
I don't know if you remeber me.. Ben Boyle. I am from Monticello and am Landry and Kaiden Redds cousin. I wish I would have read your letter to the editor in the San Juan Record before the 4th of July and then I would have had a chance to talk to you in person at my grandma Patsy's breakfast. Kendall I work for the Forest Service. Its been a good summer job for me while I was at school, and have enjoyed being in the mountians everyday. I agree with your point of views about all that happened with blanding and monticello. In fact I have a good arrow head collection of my own. Not all of us forest service workers are out to "oppress rural citizens into cervitude". Thats the problem with all of this. People are putting everybody into stereotypes. People from outside of San Juan County think we are all a bunch of hick grave robbers and everybody in San Juan County thinks that USFS and BLM workers are a bunch of liberal tree huggers. Granted there are a few people in the USFS that have their own agenda but a lot of us are just like you. In fact the morning after everybody was arrested my crew and I couldn't believe what happened. We talked about it all day. All of use grew up in Monticello and have enjoyed the mountains, canyons, and ruins just as you have. Some of my best memories as a kid were arrow head hunting with my Grandpa Shumway. Anyways Kendall I hope this helps you understand that all federal employees aren't out to get ya. We cling to our guns and religion too! feel free to write me back on my blog.
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